Yankees GM Brian Cashman spoke with the media this morning regarding the health uncertainty surrounding star sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. He also disputed recent reporting regarding the team’s efforts to shore up an injury-depleted rotation mix. MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch was among those to cover the news (links to Twitter).
First and foremost, it now seems abundantly clear — if it wasn’t already — that the Yanks will go without their twin right-handed power towers for some time to open the season. Cashman didn’t say so expressly regarding Judge, but that’s evident in the fact that he’s still undergoing testing. Judge is said to be “responding well” to the treatment he has received, but his timeline remains uncertain.
As for Stanton, Cashman said plainly that it’s “unrealistic” to expect him to be in the Opening Day lineup. But the top New York baseball ops exec did say he believes the outfielder/DH can make it back to the majors during the month of April. Stanton is rehabbing a calf injury. It doesn’t seem to be a major malady but the team is understandably handling it with care after a 2019 season that was plagued by injuries (for both Stanton and the team).
The hope presumably remains that both of those players will end up being available for most of the coming season. But the Yanks have already endured some major blows to their pitching plans — especially, the loss of Luis Severino for the entire campaign.
The club has given public indication that it’s focused on its internal options. But it stands to reason that the organization will at least look for way to add depth. And there has been some suggestion that the Yankees might attempt to add a rotation piece via trade. MLBTR’s Connor Byrne recently examined a few hypothetical possibilities. Just yesterday, we saw reports of interest in Mets lefty Steven Matz.
Cashman squashed any hope of a surprising mid-spring, cross-town Matz swap — or any other near-term trade. “We have not talked to anybody,” the GM said of trade chatter involving the rotation. That obviously doesn’t rule out future conversations, but it seems at a minimum that the Yankees staff won’t feature any prominent new members in the coming days.
Huge guys like them are constantly hurt
Who else?
Hicks and Severino haven’t exactly burned things up since their extensions last year.
Stanton and Judge will also age very poorly as outfielders.
Unless you’re willing to back up this statement, please retract. Stanton doesn’t even play OF now, he’s DH. Judge has above average speed and a cannon arm, how does that age poorly?
There have only been 272 MLB position players 6’5” or taller, while there have been more than 12,000 6’4” or shorter, so MLB self selects for players who are closer to average height than a sport like basketball, probably because the skills and conditioning required don’t lend themselves to being extremely tall.
Interestingly, using 30 career WAR as a somewhat arbitrary cutoff point for evaluating a “good” or notable player, the % of players in those 2 height groups are almost exactly equal at around 5%, meaning that if someone as tall as Stanton or Judge plays in MLB, he’s just as likely to be at least that good as his shorter counterparts.
Max and therefore mean career WAR definitely favor the shorter group, but that’s expected given the massive differences in sample sizes.
All of that is to say that you’re right – being extremely tall doesn’t make a position player any less likely to produce a strong career. I wouldn’t have thought that was the case, but seeing these comments and being bored on my commute home, I decided to pull up play index and check for myself.
Judge has been in he league 4 years, and has been injured in 3 of those seasons. Not a good sign.
Frank Thomas, McGuire, Greenburg, Guerrero, Clipper Jones, What eslee you got?
Winfield
Dave Parker
Strawberry
Let’s go seems like the Phillies are not quite the ones with the injury bug.
Big hulking guys like that are best suited to DH to minimize wear and tear on the body. Problem for the Yankees is you only get one DH in the lineup.
Cashman wanting to role with internal options in the rotation feels like he is discounting how good the Rays are (or at least were last season), and counting on the Red Sox and Blue Jays to be bad.
I think the days of knee-jerk reactions have gotten behind us. I’d make a guess that the NY mindset just now is to see if they can go even with the division in the hopes that their preferred line-up comes back strong and healthy enough (and with enough time left) to seal the division. I’d also guess that at some point in time, the moment the Yankees feel like they’re getting into a position where it would be difficult to win the division, THEN they’ll make some moves.
That possible moment of panic wouldn’t even come until July after Paxton and German gets a couple starts. There’s also a lot of depth on this team to withstand a month without Judge and/or Stanton. If Anduljar can pretend to look like a LF’er, even better.
These guys can still run away with the division again—they’re that good.
No, he just realizes March and April are not the season and the Rays will have their own injuries. After dumping Price, Sale now headed to Andrews for and elbow MRI. BoSox rotation is a dumpster fire. Paxton and German back in June. He doesn’t need a two month rental; Montgomery and Loaisaga can pitch.
Maybe, but hard to relegate Judge to a DH role when he’s maybe the best defensive RF outside of Betts. His injuries have all occurred while batting (Calf in 2016, Fluky Hand injury in 2018, Oblique 2019)
Stanton should likely be a full time DH though.
I think it was oblique in 2016 as well.
Rays will not win East….
These baseball players need to stop lifting weights as if they’re training for the Mr. Universe competition. Pitchers, especially. Hey, Aaron, you’re strong enough without having to bench press 490 lbs. Stanton, too.
@southpaw2153
I don’t think Judge is a heavy weightlifter. He’s just big.
Here’s an interesting article about Judge’s training philosophy…
nj.com/yankees/2017/05/yankees_aaron_judges_workou…
Flipping a 600-lb tire the length of a football field doesn’t sound to me like a good idea. You could easily strain or tear your pectoral muscles doing such an activity. Plus, the article states he does still perform conventional weight lifting.
I’m no Dr or physiology expert, but heavy weight lifting can’t be optimal for baseball players and their fitness over the course of a grueling 7 or 8 months ( including spring training ). Larger, bulkier muscles are more prone to injuries. Wtfdik? These injuries to Stanton and Judge are just frustrating.
What facts please share
more AB’s for Frazier and Andujar. We will deal. Tauchman in LF. Frazier in RF (yikes) and Gardy in CF.
We’re going to see a lot more of Tauchman in CF as Gardy will start less against lefties and he plays better D.
Great, now the Yankees can play the “woe is us” card, because they’re the only team that ever has injuries and definitely don’t have an unlimited payroll to paper over said injuries and bad contracts.
Lol, they had the most injuries in mlb last year and won 103 games.
Who is saying “woe is us”?
You just sound like a bitter Yankee hater.
Bro…… you already know as soon as you lose in the playoffs that will be the first excuse. He isn’t wrong..
Your infatuation with the Yankees is obvious. When are you going to convert?
Lol why would I join you farewell bandwagoners lol
because you are obsessed with the yankees lol
I don’t think at this time there is such a thing as a bandwagon Yankee fan. They’ve been good since the 90s so no one had an excuse to abandon the team
You know the last three playoff loses were to clubs that cheated,right? Not saying we would have won but get a life. Go count your championships. 1,2…….
Lol true
3 2020
Hater that’s why this site has gone downhill, I rarely visit.
Yankees fans won’t know how to handle being the 2nd best team in NY this year lol
The Mets were 18 games behind the Yankees last year.
The Mets had virtually no injuries to their rotation, lost wheeler and the Yankees added Gerrit Cole.
Good luck with that pipe dream, lol.
It’s really not a pipe dream.. look at the rosters (With your injuries now) LOL..
The only reason you might win more games is bc of how easy as AL in general is.
but you won’t have the better team until you get healthy and that won’t happen lol
Edwin Diaz still on the LETSGO’S payroll?
Lol
As a life long Mets fan I don’t get wasting your time,MetsFan22, with comparing your team with the Yanks.
Its apples and oranges as long as the Tampons own the team and van lunchwagon runs the team.
Just root for the Mets and stop celebrating Yankee injuries, bad taste.
Your not a real Mets fan then. How could you look at the Mets roster and say it’s Apple and oranges… wouldn’t surprise me if Mets had a better year this year. Of course yankes will most likely win more games bc of the two divisions they play in but if Mets made it to WS and yanks didn’t it wouldn’t surprise me.
lol….The Mets, bad owner bad leadership!
If the Mets make it to the WS they will only lose, AGAIN. It doesn’t even matter who they would play against. It’s just a forgone conclusion they would lose. Choke artists that they are. But it doesn’t matter. In the league they are in they won’t make the playoffs. They have limited hitting and after degrome they have questionable pitching. Which pitcher will show up the good versions or the bad of pitchers 2-5. They are the second place club in NY possibly third if you want to count minor league teams or independents. They are third best in their division. Behind Atlanta and Washington. Wouldn’t even surprise me if they were fourth. With a surprise from Philly. New manager that understands baseball.
Limited lineup??? You don’t watch baseball….
Haha, nice try troll.
the yankees are a world series contender this year while the mets are a contender for fourth place in their own division. its an absolute pipe dream lmao
The Mets are WS contenders too. Just not as likely as a healthy yanks team. But the injuries man (Ik it’s sucks we had it in 2017-18) they opened the door for us to be better.
I think the Tampa Bay rays have a very realistic shot at the division this year. I should clarify that. If Morton, Snell, and Glasnow stay healthy… That is a big “if“ but I think it is pretty accurate
The Jays are hiding in the high grass waiting to pounce!!! not because of your injuries or those of the BoSox, but the Jays have a sneaky good team!
“Sneaky good team.” It’s only a sneaky good team to the casual baseball fan.
lol
If I was Cashman I would take a good look at Puig on a 1 year deal.
Yanks CAN go with a Gio/Andujar combo at 3B/DH (with Andujar getting more DH looks). and they can go with Voit/Ford as a 1B/DH combo too. In the OF they can go with Frazier in LF, Gardner in CF and Tauchman in RF. However, It’s unwise to think that none of our OF will get hurt before Judge or Stanton are healthy and I would guard against Tauchman regressing back to his pre-2019 form or Gardner’s age not catching up with him. I think bringing him back for 2020 was a smart move but you still need to have a Plan B in case he struggles or is injured.
Sign Puig to a 1 year deal but let him know he might be moved mid-season once everyone is healthy. Let him use his playing time to showcase his bat and to address this. imo, undeserved claim of being a cancer.
Start the season with…
1b-Voit
2b-DJ
SS-Torres
3b-Urshela
C-Sanchez
LF-Frazier
CF-Gardner
RF-Puig
DH-Andujar
Bench-Higashioka
Bench-Ford
Bench-Wade or Estrada
Bench-Tauchman
When Judge returns you can option either Tauchman, Andujar or Frazier to AAA and swing Puig to LF.. When Stanton returns you can option Andujar or Ford to AAA. If Voit gets hurt you can swing DJ to 1B and replace DJ with Wade at 2B.
I think Puig’s energy would help the team’s spirit after going into 2020 with so many injured at the start of the season.
Puig is just eccentric. When you’re constantly bouncing around teams, it’s hard for teammates to get to know you. An acquired taste if you will.
Manny Ramirez was more so than Puig but more accomplished and stationary so it became just “Manny being Manny” from his RS teammates.
No. Just No.
Tauchman is out of options.
Poor yankees how ever will they win 110 games now
99 in the regular season, then 11 in the playoffs?
Call the Dodgers. They have eight guys vying for five spots, including Ross Stripling, who was an All-Star two years ago when given the chance to pitch as a starter. They might throw in Joc Pederson, too.
Who could the Dodgers want for Stripling and Pederson?
Andujar or Clint Frazier 🙂
Prospects?
There’s no room on the MLB roster right now for … anybody else, really. Only questions for L.A. now relate to the final composition of the rotation, which guys in the bullpen get sent down, and whether Gavin Lux can hold down second base. If not, it will be Chris Taylor, Kike Hernandez or Max Muncy at second. Decent fallback options, clearly.
Cashmans job title should include IL placer.
The Yankees training and medical staff has got to be under fire at this point. They just can’t keep their outfielders playing. Stanton, Judge and Hicks are constantly injured, and often with nothing more than issues typically associated with lack of proper warm ups, stretching or balanced conditioning.
Is this not a whole new training and medical staff? Did the Yanks not bring in all new people this season?
Yes, but they did so 2 get more IL placements
@martras
Hicks had TJ surgery. At their current ages and the fact they’ve likely been playing for the last 15-20 years, I’m pretty sure these guys know how to stretch.
Different bodies require different techniques. While it would be expected players know the fundamentals of stretching, specialist techniques wouldn’t necessarily be expected. Hicks has a long history of strains and muscle pulls (before the elbow).
In regard to replacement of the medical staff, I wasn’t aware they replaced their entire staff so that’s on me. Still, just changing heads doesn’t mean the players are getting or listening to the messages. The parallels from the previous seasons are too much not to notice.
They were replaces already, really are you that disconnected? lol
The Rays just keep looking better and better in the AL East. It would be great to see Tampa win the AL East, Oakland win the AL West, Minnesota win the AL Central. All low payroll teams (Minn is low compared to BOS, NY, LA, etc) and show that you can actually build winning teams without throwing $30 – $35M at a single player.
Yes. I know you were rooting for them low payroll teams to win in 2018…
You seem to be missing out on the fact the Jays also have a very good team, keep checking over your shoulder! The Rays are not the only team out there looking to climb up in the standings!
LMAO
Chorono looking good this year
The Rays have exactly 1 pitcher that threw over 120 IP last years and the Jays added Ryu. You guys really think that’s enough to close the gap on a team that won 103 games last year with no Cole, Severino, Stanton, Betances or Andujar last year?
No, it’s not enough. Considering all the injuries last year the Yankees still had a heck of a season. Adding Cole weakened the AL rival and strengthened the Yankees.
The Blue Jays fans are delusional if they think they can compete. Sooooo many things would have to go right that it would be a darn miracle if they won 90 games after losing 95 last year. Rays already have an injury problem with Snell. Red Sox and Sale.
This is still the Yankees division to win and lose.
And yet all you could do was an 8 and 11 record against a poor team last season? The Jays did more than add Ryu and the young core is ready to explode onto the AL East scene, but you all keep looking ahead and not behind you, remember 2015?
I remember 2015, the “bat flip.” I also remember 2016, “the punch.”
But, do you remember that 8 game lead that just went Poof? not really sure what happened against the Rangers in the playoffs which if you remember your Yanks were not in, has to do with anything?
2015?
Martin and Navarro better than Jansen/Reese
Edwin better than Shaw
Goins/Travis better than the 2019 Biggio
Jury is out on SS
Donaldson still better than Vlad
Bautista better than Grichuk
Pillar better than Teoscar
Gurriel wins in LF
Where is the 2015? What an unfair comparison. At least 2014 the Jays were pretty good. 2020 will be an improvement but learning lessons are still ahead.
So is it safe to say Frazier and Andujar will no longer be viewed as trade bait (if ever before)?
As intended. They’re young, cheap depth pieces with upside that are going to have bigger roles.
If Judge misses anymore significant time. TRADE HIM!!!
Yankees need to try again for Lindor. That lineup can be even more lethal with Lindor and his speed batting lead off. DJ ultimate contact hitter batting second.
So if Judge is significantly hurt, causing him to miss significant time, who do you trade him to, and for what?
Lmao. If Cashman starts shopping Judge around, other GM’s are gonna laugh, because they’d know that Judge’s career was likely over due to injuries at that point.
( COUNT DOWN). 5 down 4 to go .
2 best hitters plus Hicks and 3 starters out until at least May. This is already not looking good for the Yankees.
Be realistic. It’s not Judge’s fault that he is tall.
So because he’s tall he’s allowed to be injury prone. Yankees don’t need another Greg Bird
The Yanks had a choice: play a giant who can but up MVP type numbers but gets injured a lot, or play an average sized man who gives them average numbers but is available almost all of the time. I think they made the right choice. And I hate the Yankees.
Yes.
Besides the fact the Yankees had the money to take on Stanton’s contract, it never made sense to me with the Yankees putting another oversized guy in their outfield. Guys like Stanton and Judge are too big to play the outfield where leg injuries are more frequent since they have too full speed to go after fly balls. All of the weight is. It good for their legs or upper bodies while running fast then suddenly stop. Stanton has a history of leg injuries back in Miami and it never made sense why the Yankees grabbed him.
Comparing Judge and Stantons height to their injuries is one of the dumbest things I’ve read on this site. Saying they are to talk to run means all basketball players should be short guys to. They run more than any baseball player does in a game. But you never hear oh he is to talk to run for any length of time. It comes down to stretching and training. Building up those muscles in the upper body they might not be taking as much consideration into their legs. Just doing enough when they need to do more. Maybe they need to stretch their legs out more or maybe they are not hydrating themselves enough which is a big cause of muscular cramps and pulls but is never mentioned. But saying being to tall so they can’t run is just stupidity talking.
Love the site, but the comments, nah too many morons with no facts! Later fudge puppies!
Quarter billion overrated mess. Nothing to see. They’ve been that before. Will be again.
STAY AWAY FROM MATZ! You PHK’rs want that Long haired Poster Boy that cant do anything wrong in The Mets Organization Thor? TAKE HIM! But Leave Matz alone!
Jeter sure “gifted Stanton to the Yankees”. I want Jeter to gift more teams like that.
And once again, big, muscle bound players are straining muscles. I just don’t understand how these professional athletes strain muscles all the time, especially coming out of the off season when they have all winter to heal, stay loose, relax, etc.
It’s not like they can’t afford personal trainers equipment.
Hey did you hear about that hockey player who couldn’t play because a muscle hurt? Yeah, no, me neither.